Miettes, the gourmet bakery with sourdough breads and ancient flours, in the 18th arrondissement

A veritable neighborhood meeting place, Miettes is the place to be early in the morning in Paris's Marx Dormoy district. Take away a savoury breakfast before heading off to work, treat yourself to one of the viennoiseries made on the premises, or buy a quarter of Miette, a large loaf of sourdough bread, as the bakery does so well.

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This project is the crazy - or almost crazy - gamble of Fred and Marie, two bread and food enthusiasts, who opened Miettes in September 2022. And they're not alone in this sourdough adventure: since then, the team has grown to include nearly a dozen employees, Bao and Simon (bakers), Romain and Yaacov (touriers), Aurélie (pastry chef and cook) accompanied by Mathys (her apprentice), as well as Amed and Jeanne (sales).

And with good reason: here, everything is made entirely on site, from A to Z, using quality raw materials. Ancient flours from a farm in Seine-et-Marne, organic flours and seasonal produce... " We wanted to create a bakery where we could find everything we love," explains Marie. With a penchant for savoury breakfasts, they have made this a staple of the store, with their Morning sandwich (cereal breads, eggs, etc.), their Morning roll which revisits raisin bread with diced ham, mustard and wholemeal flour dough...

Or, on the other hand, their pastries and viennoiseries are regressive, but not sugar-laden! In fact, no refined sugar is used here, just wholegrain sugar to make brioches (plain or chocolate), theexcellent coffee croissant (coffee-infused dough and a nice 60% chocolate bar), the cardamom croissant... Seasonal products mingle with recipes from all over the world to offer a constantly evolving range of products, but always with the priority of gourmet pleasure.

As for the breads, they are made with four different sourdoughs, in order to offer bread that is better for your health and digestion. So, the bestseller is not the traditional Miette, as in many Parisian bakeries, but the 1.6 kgball of wholemeal and semi-wholemeal country-style bread that can be bought whole, in halves or quarters. " Fred and I wanted to create a slightly signature bread with wholemeal and semi-complete flour, to change the paradigm of tradition and redirect attention to healthier breads," says Marie.

Here, the pain au chocolat is flaky with PDO butter and filled with two bars of beautiful 60% cocoa organic chocolate, the hazelnut roll combines crunchy hazelnuts and homemade praline, the pastries revisit the cappuccino tart (Colombian recipe) or the very chocolatey fondant, and the sandwiches are as gourmet as they are complete... And at weekends, a range of pastries and viennoiseries is offered in addition to the rest. Cappuccino tart, white chocolate pecan tart, pear feta danish... If you're ever in the area, we highly recommend this gourmet address in the Marx Dormoy district!